A. Srivathsan in Conversation with Vidyadhar Phatak: Land Market in Urban Planning

Vidyadhar Phatak, is one of the leading urban thinkers in the country with rich practice and teaching experience. He is the former Chief Planner of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and also the former Dean of Faculty Planning, CEPT University. Mr Phatak was the director of National Housing Bank from 2006 to 2012 and also worked on several urban planning reforms as a consultant with the World Bank. Over the last 40 years, he has worked on land markets, land-based Fiscal Tools, urban Planning reforms and housing. A. Srivathsan is an architect and urban designer, and currently Director, Centre for Research on Architecture and Urbanism, CEPT University Ahmedabad. He was previously the Academic Director of the University, and before that taught for a decade and worked as a senior journalist with The Hindu, the national newspaper. His research and writings include the themes of urban history, planning policies and contemporary architectural practices. Srivathsan’s recent work includes work on evidence based affordable housing policies for Chennai, a study conducted for Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission. In this episode, Vidyadhar Phatak in conversation with A. Srivathsan, answers some of the crucial questions about land markets and urban planning. Given the lockdown and with Mr.Phatak in Mumbai and Srivathsan in Chennai, discussion of the conversation first happened over mail and then recorded. Mr.Phatak points out the fallouts resulting from ignoring or remaining oblivious to land as private property and market forces. Further, he explains how planning has implicitly presumed large scale public ownership of land. Things have changed, he explains. After the 1990s that is the post-economic liberalisation era, the planners are compelled to take into account the land market in formulating city plans and in evaluating development control measures.